Reaching Beyond Earth's Atmosphere

SpaceX completed the last of there contracted launches for Iridium Next with the successfully delivery of 10 satellites to orbit this morning.

The launch which had been delayed several times due to satellite and vehicle technical issues successfully lifted off at 10:31 AM EST.

This was the 2nd flight of the booster 1049 which again successfully landed this time on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone (ASDS) Ship Just Read The Instructions, having previously launched from the east coast and landed on ASDS Of Course I Still Love You.

The ten satellites were successfully deployed to orbit 71 minutes after launch concluding another successful mission for both SpaceX and Iridium.

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As we start 2019 we are launching a new weekly summary of the activities that happened or relate to space.

New Horizons flies by Ultima Thule

On New Years eve the New Horizons spacecraft flew past the asteroid 2014-MU69 which is being referred to as Ultima Thule. The asteroid which is 4+ billion miles away is the the area of the Solar System known as the Kuiper Belt and is the further ever object a spacecraft has visited to date.

Travelling at more than 32,000 mph the spacecraft began flyby operations a couple of days before closest flyby which occured on 1st Jan. Due to the distant it took 6 plus hours for the first data to be received on Earth which included the first images and also spacecraft health data that indicates that the data recorders are full indicating a successful flyby.

China Lands on the Moon

China successfully landed a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon making them the first nation to do so. Coming off their busiest year in rocket launches China has started 2019 with the successful landing on the far side of the moon with there lander Chang’e 4, aboard the lander is a rover Yutu-2, or Jade Rabbit-2.

Once on the surface the rover is successful deployed and has already started to explore the environment.

SpaceX rolls Crewed Dragon to Launch Pad

This week SpaceX rolled the first Crewed Dragon to Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center for a dry-run rehearsal and fit check. This was the first time since the last shuttle STS-135 in 2011 a crewed vehicle has been vertical at LC-39A.

While the launch date for the first demo flight (DM-1) is currently in flux due to the government shutdown it is expected to happen late Jan or early Feb this year.

SpaceX building Star Ship hopper in Texas

Meanwhile at their new launch complex in Boca Chica Village, Texas SpaceX are busy building the first of their Star Ship hopper vehicles which will be used to test the technology they are planning to use for missions eventually to Mars and beyond.

The design of these vehicles has changed several times over the time it was originally announced however now it seems we are closer to the final version with actual hardware appearing.

According to Elon Musk we can expect to see flights in 4-8 weeks, however, as with most estimates from Elon it may be longer. It looks like spring/summer is going to be very exciting.

SpaceX completed its busiest year so far with the successful deployment of the first GPS III satellite, named Vespucci, today. This was SpaceX’s 21st launch of the year and 72nd overall. The launch was delayed due to a sensor issue and then weather but was able to get off the ground today.

This was the first competitively won US National Security contracted launch carrying the next generation Global Position Satellite (GPS) III satellite to orbit.

Due to customer requirements, this was an expendable launch on a brand new block 5 booster, meaning that the after successful state separation the booster fell back to earth and splashed down in the ocean.

This concludes another record breaking year for SpaceX which saw the launch of the Falcon Heavy, 21 launches, 13 landings, third flight of a single booster core, most payloads on a single launch (for any US carrier) and progress on the Crew Dragon schedule to launch in the new year.

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At 1:16 pm EST today a Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 40 carrying a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station for there CRS-16 mission. The Dragon capsule used for this launch was previously flown on the CRS-10 mission.

10 minutes later the Dragon capsule was delivered to orbit to begin it’s journey to the station, during this launch the first stage attempted a landing at Landing Complex 1 but wasn’t successful instead landing in the Atlantic ocean.

This was the 20th launch for SpaceX this year.

Update on the first stage booster

Grid fin hydraulic pump stalled, so Falcon landed just out to sea. Appears to be undamaged & is transmitting data. Recovery ship dispatched.

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SpaceX set more milestones today with the successful launch of the Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express mission containing 64 payloads from their launch complex at Vandenberg. The deployment of the individual payloads will be performed by Spaceflight now there vehicle is in orbit.

This was the 19th launch of the year for SpaceX breaking last year’s record, was the third flight of a single booster 1046, and contained the most payloads in a single mission 64.

The first stage successfully landed back on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Just Read the Instructions which was station just off the coast near Vandenberg. The booster wasn’t able to return to the launch site due to the classified NROL-71 payload that is waiting for launch on a Delta IV Heavy next week.

During this launch, Mr. Steven’s attempted to make another capture of the payload fairs but was unsuccessful, however as Elon Musk tweeted it was able to successful pick up the fairing from the ocean and SpaceX will dry them out and use them again.

This was also the first booster to launch from each of SpaceX’s launch pads having previously launched from LC-39A at KSC and LC-40 at CCAFS.

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Just over seven weeks after the MS-10 launch failed to reach space Russia resumed crewed launches today with the successful launch and docking of the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft today.

The launch lifted off at 6:31 am EST and successfully docked at 12:34 pm EST just four orbits later. Once the leak checks are completed the hatches between the ISS and Soyuz will be opened allow the new crew members to enter the station.

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SpaceX successfully launched the Es’hail-2 satellite for Es’hailSat (Qatar) this afternoon delivering the payload to orbit 32 minutes after liftoff from Launch Complex 39-A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Following the successful stage separation the booster successfully landing on SpaceX’s Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Of Course I Still Love you in the Atlantic ocean and will now return to Port Canaveral to be prepared for another launch.

This was also the first time SpaceX have ever launched in November.

This was the 18th launch of the year for SpaceX equaling their previous record set last year and the 11th landing. SpaceX has launched Falcon 9 62 times of those 15 were using previously flown boosters.

The mission comprises two spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO).

This is the first European spacecraft to head to Mercury and will spend 7+ years traveling to the planet before entering orbit in 2025. Once it arrives the two spacecraft will separate from the transport system and begin scientific exploration of the planet in 2026.

Following the successful launch the spacecraft was deployed to orbit xx minutes later, this was a short mission for Ariane 5 which typically takes 45+ minutes to deploy.

Early this morning at 12:15 am EDT United Launch Alliance successfully delivered the AEHF-4 satellite for the United States Air Force.

Using the most powerful version of their Atlas V rocket with a single RD-180 engine and five strap-on solid boosters the rocket soared into the air for an on-time launch.

The Advanced Extremely High Frequency 4 (AEHF-4) satellite was deployed to a geostationary transfer orbit, the satellite is designed to withstand an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and provides jam-resistant, encrypted communications to air force terminals around the world.

This was the 8th launch for 2018 and 131st consecutive successful launch for ULA

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What had become almost a routine process for Russia’s space program ran into an issue today when the launch of two crew members cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and astronaut Nick Hague aborted shortly after the first stage booster separation.

The two crew members were on their way to the International Space Station (ISS) and the flight was proceeding nominally until the four strap-on boosters separated. Around the same time, a large plume of fuel could be seen escaping from the area of the vehicle. This was followed shortly afterward by an alarm sounding, at which time the Russian Translator on the live feed started talking about booster failure and preparations for ballistic abort.

The crew landed safely around 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan and have been picked up by the search and rescue crews that were station about 90 minutes away from the landing site. They are now on their way to Moscow and will then return to the launch site to meet with their families.

At present the impact on the ISS is unknown, Russia has announced they have set up a state commission to investigate the anomaly. However, unless they can find an immediate cause of the issue and it can be resolved quickly it seems likely that there will be a stand-down of crewed launches using Soyuz. This will mean that with no other vehicles available to launch crew to the ISS at present due to the delays in the US commercial crew program, and with the limited lifespan the Soyuz vehicle has on orbit that we may have to face the possibility of decrewing the ISS until such time that crewed launches can resume.

However, at present, the current crew of ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst who is currently the commander, Sergey Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor have plenty of supplies available and are not scheduled to leave the station until December having arrived in June. Unfortunately, this is close to the lifespan of the Soyuz vehicle so there may not be a lot of room to extend the mission.

10/13/2018 – Update

While the telemetry is still be analysed the leading theory at this point is that one of the first stage strap-on boosters failed to separate correctly and impacted the second stage causing the launch abort. The sequence of events meant that the main launch abort tower had already jettisoned however the Soyuz has a second abort system built into it (which apparent very few people knew about) which kicked in to take the crew away from the failing booster.

Russia has reported that they will provide an update on the investigation by October 20th at which time we should have a better idea of what impact this will have on future launches of Soyuz.